Bank code

A bank code is a code assigned by a central bank, a bank supervisory body or a Bankers Association in a country to all its licensed member banks or financial institutions. The rules vary to a great extent between the countries. Also the name of bank codes varies. In some countries the bank codes can be viewed over the internet, but mostly in the local language.

The (national) bank codes differ from the international Bank Identifier Code (BIC/ISO 9362, a normalized code - also known as Business Identifier Code, Bank International Code and SWIFT code). Those countries which use International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN) have mostly integrated the bank code into the prefix of specifying IBAN account numbers. The bank codes also differ from the Bank card code (CSC).

The term "bank code" is sometimes (inappropriately) used by merchants to refer to the Card Security Code printed on a credit card.

Europe

For bank classification values and identifiers for German clearing regions, see Bankleitzahl (in German).
For a comprehensive list of Germany's "banking location" identifiers, see Bankplätze (in German).

The first two digits of the sort code identify the bank (90-xx-xx = [Bank of Ireland], 98-xx-xx = [Ulster Bank], for example) and the last 4 identify the branch.

There is an exception with 99-xx-xx - these codes are used for international banks Irish Clearing ACs, and some Post Office accounts.

As of February 2014 all countries in the Single Euro Payments Area have switched to an IBAN-based system for clearing (including TARGET2 for cross-border transfers). The national bank codes have been integrated into the IBAN definition, in most cases at the start of the new account number (starting at position 5 after the common prefix of two-letter country identifier and two check digits).

North America

Asia-Pacific

See also

External links

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